


Home Is Where the Taaco's Are

by RockinDragonz



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Everyone just loves Angus okay?, Family, Family Feels, Fluff, Found Family, Homelessness, Kravitz loves Angus, Orphanage, Taako loves Angus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 21:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17050754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockinDragonz/pseuds/RockinDragonz
Summary: Angus McDonald would never allow himself to be a burden on anyone, so he tries to make it on his own following the Day of Story and Song.  He ends up in an orphanage with too many kids, too few caretakers, and too little money.  When Taako and Kravitz find out, they will not let that stand any longer.





	Home Is Where the Taaco's Are

No one really talks about what they saw, or rather didn’t see, that day. It's never mentioned when the Day of Story and Song comes around. For many, it is a day of celebration, but, for many more, it is a day of mourning and loss. So many died to the monsters before anyone could see them. So many husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, children and grandparents. Everyone knew someone who had died without being able to see their attacker, all they felt was blood spilling from them by the gallon. What they do talk about is the story of the seven birds and how courageous and wonderful these people were. They talk of the Bureau of Balance and some speak of Carey, Killian, and Angus who had the privilege of fighting beside the old adventurers.

Its weird for a while for Angus. Going to school and trying to have a normal life all while being so related to the seven people who saved countless realities. When he’s first recognized on the street as Angus McDonald, member of the Bureau of Balance, he is in shock. People crowd him and ask him so many of questions about the IPRE crew that he loses track of them.

For the crew, the year immediately following the Day of Story and Song was the hardest. Taako and Kravitz had rushed headfirst into their relationship and had spent as much time together as possible. Magnus began to rebuild Raven’s Roost after the destruction it had faced. Lup and Barry joined up with the Raven Queen, so they weren’t around much. Lucretia spent all of her time trying to fix all the mistakes she had made and created the Bureau of Benevolence to aid in repairation efforts. Merle moved to the beach and became the leader of a city he now ran. And Davenport all but disappeared off the map.

As for Angus, he no longer had a home. He was alone once again, without a mother or father to speak of, and his grandfather’s grave had been destroyed in the attacks. He applied to Lucas’s school and got in with no problems. But now he was living in an orphanage where there were too many kids, not enough caretakers, and not nearly enough money. Many children had been orphaned on that fateful day. Despite everything, Angus found himself happier than he had ever been. He was learning new and challenging things and he was visiting constantly with Taako and Kravitz who lived so close to his school. He was finally living the life a child deserves to live. No one knew where Angus was calling home, no one even really knew that Angus had no family in Faerun that he could have lived with. Whenever the subject was brought up, he changed it quickly with a dismissive answer and tried to focus on something not related to his living conditions at all.

That’s how it went for the first year. Everything was calm and quiet and everyone had a new appreciation for life and love.

It's been almost three years since the day or Story and Song now and Angus is still in the orphanage. Prospective parents have been few and far between for the orphanage this year and donations haven’t been large enough to support the displaced children so there wasn’t enough food to go around. Besides that, Angus had some massive finals coming up that kept him locked in his shared room most days. Those two things combined over the course of a month meant that Angus was starting to show some bone in his ribcage. He was constantly hungry now, but he ignored it and continued working towards his goal of becoming as good of a wizard as Taako was.

His final for the year was held on the day before the Day of Story and Song, so the day after was when he finally found himself with enough time to once again visit Taako and Kravitz. Normally the gang would gather in one house to celebrate and relate stories, but the party had been put off for a day or so because Davenport had gotten stranded briefly in some remote part of the world and refused out of dignity to let Kravitz help him. Before knocking on the familiar wooden door, Angus hesitated. He knew Taako was more on this day and he really didn’t want to bother him, but his decision was made for him when a surprisingly casually dressed reaper opened the door.

Kravitz blinked down at Angus twice before grinning ear to ear. “Angus! I was just about to head to the store to get some stuff for dinner, will you be joining us?”

“Oh, no sir, I wouldn’t want to bother you two, I know you’re both very-” he was cut off by a loud growl from his stomach that caught him totally off guard. The growling had stopped weeks ago but apparently the mention of Taako’s delicious food reactivated it.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Go ahead and go inside, Taako is just in the kitchen getting some things prepared.” Kravitz clapped him on the shoulder and stepped away from the wooden door and past Angus. Hesitantly, Angus stepped into the warm home.

“Sir? Mr. Kravitz let me in,” Angus said, calling towards where he knew the kitchen was.

“Angus, I’m in the kitchen, do me a favor and come give cha’boy a hand,” Taako responded. Angus nodded to himself and dropped his book bag on the cozy couch that stood facing a lit fire. He stared for a moment at the flames that licked up and around the logs burning, and he thought of Lup immediately as he stared. Honestly, Angus was surprised she and Barry weren’t here; the twins were usually inseparable today. Shaking his head, Angus walked to the kitchen to lend Taako the hand he had asked for.

“How can I help sir?”

“Just hand me stuff and put things I give you in the sink or something, I don’t really care as long as they get the fuck out of my way,” Taako said, passing him a dirty dish. Angus nodded and dutifully placed it in the sink and ran the water to clean the bowl out a bit. “Ango, gimme the salt.” And so Angus did. Things continued like this for a while, both of them existing in comfortable silence, despite the teasing that usually occurred at Angus’ expense. Taako said nothing besides a few short words to indicate what he needed next for the recipe. At one point, Angus got the feeling that Taako didn’t really need his help, he could tell in the way Taako would go to reach for something and then hesitate and ask Angus to grab it for him. Honestly, Angus had no idea why the usually flippant man would allow him to help out, but he wasn’t complaining, anything was better than being stuck at that orphanage ny longer than he had to be.

“That’ll do boyo, we can chillax now and watch Fantasy Queer Eye if you want, though Krav might kill me if we watch a new ep without him.” Taako spoke loudly, almost as if he were trying to get someone else in the house to hear him, as he dried his hands off on a dish towel.

“Whatever sounds great to me sir!” Angus said with a smile he hoped was convincing. The food he could smell that was now baking kept causing his stomach to growl loudly, but if Taako had noticed, he hadn’t said anything about it. Taako plopped down on the couch in what Angus knew to be his usual place and waved his hand at the small TV above the fireplace. A rerun episode of Fantasy Queer Eye came on, one where they were trying to help a gay man get a sense of style that he obviously didn’t have. Occasionally, Taako would scoff at the clothing choices one of them would make for the client and he would mutter things like “Oh so you think you know everything about clothing, don’t you Tan?” In these instances, Angus would only smile to himself in a fond way one would if one’s father was acting silly.

“So...how’re...things?” Taako said. He had obviously grown bored with the rerun and was now trying to rope Angus into a long conversation about his life.

“Things are good, I am doing very well in school!”

“Yeah, no surprise there, boy wonder,” Taako said with a snort, “what are they feeding you over there anyways? You look like skin and bone my dude. I’m gonna have to take that up with Lucas and make sure that shithead is feeding you guys right.”

“There’s no need for that sir, I’m just...sick is all.”

“No, no, no, I know sick and this is not that,” he said with a scowl, “have you eaten a proper meal in the last few weeks? I’m talking something other than a shitty ass school sandwich and a granola bar.”

“Oh sir, the shows back on! I love this part of the episode, it’s so funny.” Angus turned his face to watch the TV and rested his head in his hands, hoping to mask the bit of bone that had begun to show around his jaw area. With no warning, the TV was shut off. Angus turned to look at Taako only to be faced with a serious look that he had rarely, if ever, seen on Taako’s face.

“Angus, what is really going on? I’m not a moron you know, I know malnutrition when I see it, and boy, am I seein it right now.” Angus sighed and let his hands fall into his lap. He was torn between telling Taako the whole truth and lying about his whereabouts and his food intake. Lying seemed to be the better and less inconvenient option. “Don’t bullshit me or I will get Merle to pop over here and cast Zone of Truth.” Again, Angus sighed a deep sigh. Taako wasn’t going to give up until he was satisfied with the answer, was he?

“Okay, well, I’m living in a home where they don’t have a ton of money right now and we haven’t been able to get much food together. Most people have spent their money on the rebuilding efforts so donations are low.”

“Wait a second there boyo,” Taako said, his eyebrows raising rapidly, “donations? What, are you living on the streets now?”

“No, I have a bed sir, I’m not sleeping on the streets anymore.”

“Anymore?”

“Um, well yeah, after the Day of Story and Song three years ago, I had nowhere to go, so I was on the streets for a few weeks, but an orphanage took me in.”

“An orphanage?! Are you fucking with me?!” Taako yelled, “You’ve been living in an orphanage with barely enough food, if any, for three fucking years and no one even bothered to check on you?”

“I didn’t want to impose on anyone, sir. I felt wrong aking anyone from the BoB to take me in because I’m not their responsibility,” Angus said, voice soft.

“Well fuck that noise!” Taako stood violently, knocking into the coffee table as he rose. Kravitz chose that exact moment to enter the room carrying a small bag of rolls with him. He looked from Taako to Angus and back with a look of total bewilderment. Taako’s face was pure rage and Angus was sure his was one of fear and shock.

“What is going on here?” Kravitz said, his voice unnaturally calm given the current situation.

“Angus here hasn’t been telling us the whole fucking truth for three fucking years!” Taako shouted.

“What ‘whole truth’ is he talking about, Angus?”

“Ango here has been living in a fucking orphanage with nothing to eat for three. Fucking. Years.” Taako spat. “That shit doesn’t fly. Krav, take us to the orphanage where Angus is staying so I can get those fucking adoption papers now.” With those words, Taako stormed off to the kitchen. Angus could hear some banging as he grabbed the dish out of the oven and dropped on one of the counters. He heard Taako swearing a muttering to himself just loud enough that he could hear the noise, but couldn’t make out any of the words, he just knew that Taako was furious.

“I-I-I didn’t mean to make him angry Mr. Kravitz, I promise I didn’t, I’m just really tired and I’m not thinking straight and I couldn’t come up with a believable lie in time to tell him,” Angus said as he stood, “I just didn’t want to force anyone to take care of me, that’s-” Before he could finish his sentence, he was wrapped up in a tight hug from Kravitz. Despite Kravitz being dead and his skin being cold, Angus had never felt warmer in all his life.

“Angus, shhh, it’s okay, he isn’t mad at you,” Kravitz said in a soft tone, “he’s mad that he didn’t notice you were going through exactly what he and Lup had gone through back on their home world.” Angus was stunned. This information was new to him. Of course, he could infer it what with how jumpy Taako seemed to get in a new place and how he always seemed to know the fastest exit out of any room, but he had never had such clear confirmation. For a long while, they stood there, Angus wrapped up in Kravitz’s arms with his own down at his sides in shock. It took him a moment to process all that was happening and, when he finally did, he felt tears begin to streak down his face. He wrapped his arms tightly around Kravitz, who pulled him down onto the couch, never letting go of him for even a moment. Kravitz combed his fingers through the thick and curly locks as Angus sobbed harder than he had in years. Taako returned at some point and wrapped his arms around the other side of Angus, but no one could tell you when or exactly how it had happened, it just did.

Once Angus had finally calmed down fully, he pulled away from Kravitz, but was unable to escape Taako’s tight grasp. It seemed as if Taako was unwilling to let go for fear that he might lose him or something.

“Don’t you ever do something like this again, okay Ango? We are your dads now, and thats final.” Taako spoke with such finality that Angus was once again overcome with emotions. He wrapped his arms tightly around Taako’s neck and buried his face into it and found himself crying once more. Not out of stress or fear but out of so much happiness that he couldn’t handle it on his own. Taako was happy to oblige him, wrapping his arms tight around his magic boy. They sat there for what felt like forever. Kravitz eventually stood up and went to get something, and Angus faintly registered talking in a room a ways away, but he wasn’t coherent enough to process any of it. After what felt like hours, Taako and Angus let go of each other and only stared. Taako’s eyes were red and puffy just as Angus knew his were, but this was more of a comfort than anything to him.

“How’re you doing kiddo?” Kravitz said as he took his place on the couch once more.

“Better.”

“Good. I just finished speaking with the lady who owns the shelter and she is aware that we are coming to get your things. She sounded drunk.”

“I did some detective work while I was there and I think she knows that I found out she stole all the money we had for food this month to pay for her alcohol.”

“That would explain it,” Kravitz said with a laugh, “when we get there, grab your things and do not say a word to her. Taako and I will deal with her and her employer.”

Angus only nodded in acknowledgement and went to stand up, but was stopped by a hand on his knee.

“Angus,” Taako began, “you are never a burden on any of us, remember that.” His face was stone cold serious. He hadn’t seen this look since three years ago when he was preparing to kick the shit out of Lucretia for lying to him.

“Okay.”

Once the three were calm and collected, they gathered a few bags and waited for Kravitz to rip a tear for them to travel to the orphanage with. Upon their arrival, the woman was standing in front of the building with a scowl on her face. She was yelling at a younger girl who was covered in mud. Once she had been incredibly sweet and loving to all the children, but that was when people were giving all they could to the ‘poor little children who had lost their parents to the Hunger’. Now she was bitter and mean and crude to all the kids she came across. Taako cleared his throat as he stared her down. She waved her hand dismissively and continued to berate the girl for getting her clothes messy, but Taako was having none of it. He grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her to face him fully.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” she demanded before she laid eyes on him. It was almost comical how wide her eyes got when she was Angus standing behind one of the seven birds. She had known that he was related to them, but they never visited or even contacted him at the orphanage, so she thought they had forgotten about him completely.

“I’m Taako from TV,” he said. And, with all the rage and anger he had pent up, he punched her square in the nose with all the force he had in his body. Granted, it wasn’t much, but she fell backwards, out cold all the same. Kravitz only whistled as she went down and the girl stared at Taako in awe. Taako turned to the young girl and, with a wave of his hand, her dress was pristine again. “Don’t hit people, kid.” He gave her a genuine Taako (™) smile and strode into the orphanage. Angus was left shocked with Kravitz by his side. The man laughed quietly and shook his head, but followed after his husband. Angus followed suit, trying to keep up with him so that none of the other kids would wonder why a Reaper was here with one of the seven birds.

When they stepped inside the house, papers were flying everywhere as Taako searched for the forms he needed to sign. Kravitz nudged Angus towards the stairs and pointed towards where Taako was obviously beginning his search.

“I’ll help him, you go get your stuff, if you need me, just yell.” Angus nodded and began the climb to the shared bedroom for all the boys. He frowned as he got to the top and all the kids in his orphanage were hiding in the room.

“It’s okay,” he began, unsure of how to help the kids, “it’s just me.”

“She said to stay here and out of sight or else, so we did. What’s all the commotion downstairs?” one girl said. Her voice was soft, so Angus could barely understand her, but he smiled anyways.

“Taako is downstairs,” he said. Before he could even finish speaking, the children were scrambling to get down there to meet one of the famous seven birds. Angus was left alone in the giant room with only his thoughts and his stuff to grab. He pulled a chest out from under his bed where he kept all of his things and began to unpack it and put it in the bags Kravitz had given him. He took extra care to cushion his most valuable items: his spell books for school, his journal where he kept all of his detective notes, and a single silver spoon that had belonged to the set his grandfather had entrusted him with that he knew Taako and the other two had stolen on the train. This spoon meant more to him than almost anything else he owned so he put it in the safest spot he could imagine.

With a smile, he looked around the room one last time, gathered his things, and went downstairs to tell the two he was ready to go. It was no surprise to him that Taako had been surrounded by the children. What was a shock was seeing Magnus and Merle there trying to act as decoys.

“Hey guys! Look it’s me, Magnus Burnsides!” he shouted, striking a pose and flexing. Immediately, all the children who had been surrounding Taako flocked to talk to Magnus who took it all in stride. The attention was something that the three of them had gotten very used to in the past few years, so it was nothing for Magnus to be messing with a few of the kids and trying to lift them while Merle tried his damndest to even see over the sea of children. It seemed that none of the kids noticed Angus follow Taako and Kravitz to a side room where they could hopefully have a moment to process everything.

“Thank you for getting those two for me Krav, I couldn’t handle those brats for a second longer,” Taako said with relief evident in his voice. Kravitz only nodded with a fond smile to which Taako rolled his eyes.

“So, Angus, shall we?” Kravitz said. He gestured to the desk where Taako and he had already signed the paperwork. The ink was fresh with their signatures, but that of the orphanage’s owner’s was not.

“She must have signed all of the forms forever ago,” Taako said with disgust, “she wanted ou all out of her hair so badly, I bet she would have gladly given one of you to anyone with cash.”

“Sirs?” Angus said, voice small, “Are you sure about this?”

“Of course we are, Angus,” Kravitz said with a gentle smile, “we love you, and we want you to be happy. Do you want this?”

“Absolutely,” Angus said with a gigantic grin on his face. His eyes had gotten a bit teary and his vision was getting slightly blurred, but he was happy. Taako handed him the pen to sign that he agreed to be adopted, and Angus drew his signature over the line with the biggest smile he had had in years.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of things. Taako and Kravitz took him to the nearest city hall to turn in the paperwork and make it fully official. The secretary there was shocked by Taako’s sudden appearance with a literal reaper’s scythe that dropped them in the middle of her office. Once there, the woman only nodded in awe to the questions Taako asked. When they brought up the lady in charge of the orphanage, the secretary shook from her stupor and began writing things down. She assured them that the woman would be fired promptly and a new person would be instated as the caretaker. Taako also insisted on making a hefty donation to the orphanages that fell under the jurisdiction of this city, to which the woman humbly accepted and tucked away.

“If I find out my money has gone to anything except the kids,” Taako spoke, his voice suddenly deep and filled with anger, “all hell will break loose.” The woman only nodded, pupils blown wide in fear. Satisfied his money would be used well, Kravitz tore open another portal, this one to their home.

As Angus stepped foot into their living room with all of his things in hand, it finally settled in his mind that this was real. This wasn’t just a dream, this was actually happening. He would be with a family, a real family, and he would finally be safe for the first time in three years.

“Your room is upstairs, I’m gonna heat up dinner real fast,” Taako said, all but sprinting away to the kitchen.

As if Kravitz could hear Angus’ concerns, he spoke, “Don’t worry about him, okay Angus? He loves you, I promise, he’s just really bad at showing vulnerability sometimes.” Angus nodded with a small smile. He knew Taako loved him, he knew the trio loved him, because they teased him so often but they were also softer to him than anyone else. Kravitz patted him on the head and started for the stairs to lead Angus to his new room. When they entered, it was basically empty save for the massive bed against one of the walls and a dresser with a mirror on top. Despite the lack of furniture in the room, Angus had never felt so at home.

“Welcome home kiddo,” Kravitz said, “I’ve always wanted to be a dad, you know. So has Taako. The last time he got drunk, actually, he talked about adopting you, but you hadn’t shown any interest in being adopted by anyone, so he dropped it quickly. He’s really fucking happy about this.”

“I know sir, I am too,” Angus said, “thank you, sir, for adopting me.”

“Angus, you don’t have to call us ‘sir’ anymore. You can call me dad if you want, or if you don’t want, whatever works for me. I just want you to be happy here.”

“Okay, sir,” Angus paused, “dad.” Absolute joy took over Kravitz’ face and he had to seemingly restrain himself from wrapping Angus up in a bear hug.

“Get settled in, and then come down for dinner, okay?”

“Alright.” With that, Kravitz turned and retreated down the hallway and downstairs. Angus watched him go for a moment, before he stepped into his new room and into his new life.

And he truly couldn’t have been happier if he’d tried.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys like it, please give me feedback on my characterizations of these three, I'm always wanting to do better by my boys. I just love these three so much asfhjkgfjkd


End file.
